Comet Enthusiast

The Phoenix Haboob of July 5th, 2011 from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

This isn’t space and astronomy-related, but this video of the massive dust storm that swept through the Phoenix area yesterday is just amazing, if not apocalyptic! Mike Olbinski, a photographer from the area shot this timelapse, and on his website says, “There are really not many words to describe this dust storm, or what we call it here (and they also do in places like the Sahara Desert)…a haboob. This was a haboob of a lifetime. I’ve lived in Phoenix for my entire 35 years of existence and have never seen anything like this before. It was incredible.”

Olbinski stood on the top of a 4-story parking garage and said people everywhere were snapping photos and video, “like madmen.”

Olbinski says he wishes he could have shot five more seconds of video, but the dust was so thick, daytime turned into night instantaneously. He also has an amazing black & white photo of the event posted on his website.

Tagged as:
dust storms,
Haboob